By Michael Letendre

PLAINVILLE – When the Bristol Eastern football team had fallen behind by seven points against Plainville with 1:22 to play on Friday evening, after leading by the same tally moments earlier, it would have been easy for the Kingstreeters to just call it a day.

Momentum is a fickle friend and once the Blue Devils turned a 14-7 deficit into a 21-14 edge, the home team was looking for one final stop to close out the game.

But the Lancers’ program refused to comply, one of the traits that defines the Eastern program in 2021.

The Lancers had one chance to get back into the contest and went for it, stealing the momentum back from the Blue Devils.

On a long ball directed towards receiver Rayshon Andrews, the play was designed to get Eastern closer to the Plainville red zone.

However, it wasn’t Andrews who ultimately caught the ball.

And the receiver that did make the catch turned the play into six points.

On the kickoff, with Plainville leading by seven, Andrews made a very good return – going 21 yards to set the Lancers up on in its own 44 yard-line.

With 1:13 showing on the clock, Eastern went for its long toss.

Quarterback Brady Brown, doing a tremendous job chucking the ball for Eastern in place of the injured Kamden Laprise, charged right on first-and-10 as Andrews chugged down the Plainville sideline.

While being chased by three defenders, Brown launched the ball towards Andrews who was being shadowed by Plainville’s Joseph’s Vasquez.

And it was truly anyone’s ball.

Vasquez tipped the ball down at the Plainville 26 but as it was batted away, who was there to collect it?

Nate Shorette, who was in front of the play, caught up with the duo as the ball was shipped in and caught it off the rebound.

Off a slick grab, Shorette was off to the races.

Twenty-six yards after the catch, Shorette sprinted into the goal for a touchdown on a simply amazing effort.

“We had a jump-ball situation with a really good athlete in Rayshon Andrews” said Eastern coach Anthony Julius of the final touchdown. “Ray went up for the jump-ball and made a play on it and it [was] tipped. And Nate Shorette, with a really head’s up and instinctual play, was trailing the play. When you’re an instinctual player, you put yourself in good positions. Good things happen to you and that’s what happened to Nate there.”

“It really gave us a spark and gave us an opportunity to go for the win there.” 

And with 61 seconds remaining, Eastern was ready to tie the contest via an extra point by Gavin Damboise.

Damboise, an extremely poised freshmen, was 2-for-2 kicking PAT’s that evening and a third appeared to be on the horizon.

But the coaching staff at Eastern called time out and eventually pulled the kicking unit.

Instead, the visitors were going to go for two in an attempt to secure a 22-21 edge.

On the road, going for a tie and attempting to navigate a possible tough overtime – especially the way Plainville quarterback Michael Bakaysa (17 passes, 217 yards) was throwing the ball – another couple sessions with the Blue Devils was not an appealing proposition.

Instead, Eastern was going to set up a two-point conversion and Shorette was going to be the target for the game-winning throw.

As the Lancers set up the play, the squad quickly realized they were a man short as Andrews sprinted onto the field.

And once the ball was snapped, Brown was ready to strike.

Shorette actually tripped on the play but he immediately made it back to his feet, crossing from right to left and ran into the end zone – ready to receive the ball.

And the pass was just an inch off the mark – it was that close – as the ball just escaped the reach of the receiver as Eastern trailed 21-20.

“It certainly wasn’t lack of effort,” said Julius of the final scoring play. “Austin made a great effort on the ball. He just came up short.”

But it wasn’t over because Eastern, between timeouts and stops, knocked out the ensuing Plainville drive as the Blue Devils were forced to punt.

And the Lancers got within striking distance of the Plainville goal but simply ran out of downs in the end, falling by a single point to Plainville (3-1).

“It was a really good effort on both sides of the ball,” said Julius. “Plainville did a nice job most of the game tying to neutralize our ground game. We still were successful on the ground. But you have to give credit where credit’s due. They did a nice job.”

No Third Period Points

To date, opponents have not been able to score on Eastern over third quarter play.

The Lancers have yielded 62 points this year – 15.5 points-per-game – but none of that scoring has come after the halftime break.

Eastern has done a credible job putting together long third quarter drives to keep opponents away from the ball this year.

Meaningful Games

No one likes losing football games and over the years, the Lancers have earned their lumps.

But over the first four games of the 2021 campaign, Eastern (2-2) has been in all four of its games to date – dodging injuries, tough calls and general tomfoolery along the way.

That’s already what a usual squad sees over a full slate of games but Eastern has a half-dozen more contests to continue a very exciting ride.

And expect more of the same this week as Eastern battles Capital/Achievement in a Connecticut Alliance game on Friday from Alumni Field in Bristol.

Game time is 6:30 p.m.